An Infamous Day

Why we love it

On the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, killing 2,403 people and injuring 1,178 others. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared it to be “a date which will live in infamy.” This story map uses images, videos and maps to recreate that tragic day. We love how the map uses geographical and temporal details, across multiple battlefronts, to show a new perspective on the interconnected sequence of events.

Why it works

This story map works because it brings clarity to a complex story—one that’s made up of both calculation and chaos. Using grayscale colors for maps can be a risky choice, but here the cartography does justice to the moment in time. The map author embraces black-and-white basemaps for an old-school map aesthetic. This choice provides continuity when the story transitions from maps of the ships’ arrangement to newsreels and historic aftermath photos.

Important steps

Add custom shapes for the flight path

The flow lines of the two attack waves require custom shapes and georeferencing in ArcGIS. Multiple steps and software are needed to make the curved flight paths.

Transition with immersive sections

Black and white tells the story

Designing the basemaps in black and white tied together historic photos and aerial imagery from the time.

Requirements

Data

The data for this story came from a variety of sources including the US Naval History and Heritage Command, the US National Archives, The National WWII Museum, the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Library, the US Navy, National Geographic, and the National Park Service.

Clare Trainor

As a cartographer, I love the stories told through compelling maps and visualizations. I was recently an intern with the Esri Story Maps Team and I now work at National Geographic helping produce maps and graphics for National Geographic Magazine.